quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- plebeian[plebeian 词源字典]
- plebeian: [16] The plēbs were the ‘common people’ of ancient Rome (the word may connected with Greek pléthos ‘multitude’, a relative of English plethora). English gets plebeian from its derived adjective plēbēius. The connotations of ‘lower-classness’ have been transferred from ancient Rome to the present day, and inspired the derogatory pleb [19]. A plebiscite [16] is etymologically a ‘decree approved by the common people’.
[plebeian etymology, plebeian origin, 英语词源] - plebeian (n.)
- "member of the lowest class," 1530s, from Latin plebius "person not of noble rank," from adjective meaning "of the common people" (see plebeian (adj.)).
- plebeian (adj.)
- also plebian, "of or characteristic of the lower class," 1560s in a Roman historical sense, from Latin plebeius "belonging to the plebs," earlier plebes, "the populace, the common people" (as opposed to patricians, etc.), also "commonality; the mass, the multitude; the lower class," from PIE *ple- (see pleio-). In general (non-historical) use from 1580s.